Narendra Modi’s maturity prevented ‘mayhem’ at Patna rally, says BJP

Hyderabad: Dismissing Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's comments that Narendra Modi needs to have ‘patience,’ BJP said there would have been ‘mayhem’ at Patna rally, had the latter not shown maturity.

"Nitish Kumar says Modiji needs to have patience if he wants to become Prime Minister. If Narendra Modiji had not shown his maturity in Patna and even remotely from the stage had leaked that bombs are blowing all around you, there would have been a stampede in the crowd. There would have been mayhem in the crowd. Thousands may have been killed," BJP general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy said in Hyderabad.

Modi did not let the people feel that there is danger looming around, he told reporters.

Alleging that the protocol was not followed as no senior police official was present at the time of Modi's arrival in Patna for the rally on Sunday, he said that the BJP's primeministerial candidate still chose to go ahead with his participation as its cancellation would have led to deterioration in the situation.

Slamming Kumar for his comments that there was no intelligence input about possible explosions at the Gandhi Maidan, Rudy said the visit by Modi, a Z-plus protectee, wouldhave been good enough to make the entire area sterile.

The Bihar government was ‘callous and lackadaisical’ in providing security to the event, he alleged.

The former Union Minister expressed confidence that BJP would win majority of the Lok Sabha seats in Bihar in 2014 general elections and also 2015 Assembly polls.

Charging that JD-U leader Shivanand Tiwari was shouted down for appreciating Modi at a party convention in Bihar, Rudy alleged that it reflected ‘political intolerance’ of the partymen.

To a query, Rudy claimed that Kumar has lost the ability to govern and that JD-U, which snapped its alliance with BJP in Bihar a few months ago, has become weak.

On the coal block allocation issue, he said that the Prime Minister should step down and cooperate in the CBI probe.

Asked about the convention on communalism being organized by Left parties in Delhi, he said Communist parties have been decimated and lost their national relevance.

The third front would be a non-starter with Left having lost its strength, the BJP leader added.